Ah, the Shirlington Limousine Service.
I dismissed the angle at first, despite the curious details surfacing about the car company which ferried the hookers to Wilkes’ parties, and also brought Cunningham to the hookers, according to reports. Also noted: the company owner has a 62-page rap sheet; he had a contract with the Department of Homeland Security, and one with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Also, he had tax problems.
That was all interesting, I thought. But it diverts us from the crux of the story: Who got the hookers? Who had sex with hookers? Who paid for the hookers?
I’m now reconsidering my conviction. Why? Shirlington Limo appears to connect a growing list of high-powered Washington elites to the world of crime. On the one hand, the company’s contracts with sensitive agencies, and comments by company owner Chris Baker, imply it has connections with power brokers. On the other, Baker’s rap sheet and tax complications point to his more-than-passing familiarity with the underworld.
At the moment, we know only that news reports say Baker’s service was used by Wilkes and others to procure sex. But if and when the scandal connects other elites to the car company, we may discover the company provided other services as well.
I recognize now that the company is so central to the hooker mess that the affair has been referred to at least once as “The Shirlington Limo scandal.” And, as the Post reported, the company’s importance may have escaped me but it didn’t escape federal investigators. Nor has it eluded the interest of mainstream reporters, who are digging in like hungry souls at a Thanksgiving dinner. As well they should: they haven’t been fed a scandal this juicy in a long, long time.
